[*New PC*] {***need help please!!!***}

[shadowlift]

Hey guys,
I'm looking to buy a computer in 2-4 months, and I've looked at a few parts. My budget is about 750 - 850 pounds, here are some "shortlistings" i have made:

HD 4850 graphics card ( i really dont know whether to get 4870 or just get an nvidia card!

*OVERCLOCKED* AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 2.8GHz @ 3.5GHz (Skt AM3) / ]
Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P Motherboard / ]
Corsair 4GB DDR3 XMS3 PC2-1600C9DHX TwinX (2x2GB) Bundle/ ]
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 ]
]
This is a bundle I found, it's for 356 pounds, and i thought it looks like a bargain, but then again i don't know ] much about hardware so ]

I'm stuck on whether to get a WD Caviar Black 500GB £52 or Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache for £80? which one is better value for money?

I don't know about burner/reader (I could just use the one on my current computer)

Vista home premium 64bit? £92

Don't know about PSU

Antec 300 case?

Please make reccomendations or any changes to my list, you could even suggest a completely different build! (please remember £750 - £850 )
Thanks,
Shadowlift

 

[shadowlift]

also please post a link to the component you recommend if you can and preferably on a UK site such as overclockers.co.uk or another site that has free shipping.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Component-wise, I'd say you have a decent rig there (no idea concerning prices across the pond, though).

Concerning the hard drive, if you're never (and I mean *NEVER*) going to need more than 500GB, then why get more?

Concerning the power supply, a 500-550 watt power supply from a reputable company (like Antec, FPS, Corsair, Seasonic) should be more than enough to power a single HD4850. The power supply is the heart of your system. It supplies the life-blood to all the components in your system. Bad blood = Dead system.

-Wolf sends

 

[shadowlift]

Im looking at the 1tb drive because it's got 32 mb cache and it has very good customer reviews that say it's very fast and silent... do you think I should be considering a HD4870 to be more future-proof?

 

[Wolfshadw]

If the HD 4870 (or something even better) falls within budget, then there's no reason not to.

-Wolf sends

 

[Helloworld_98]

£850 can buy you i7

i7 920 C0 oem £226
Intel i7 heatsink £9
Asus P6T SE (includes free shipping on whole order) £162
Corsair 3x2gb ddr3-1333 £64
Silverstone 650w £68
Coolermaster 590 £57
Palit 4850 512mb £111
WDC Green 500gb £45
Samsung BEBE DVD-ROM £12
Windows Vista64 Home premium OEM £88

those prices were rounded up or down from scan.co.uk but the total price is £843.67 inc free shipping.

 

[jsc]

£850 can buy you i7
WDC Green 500gb £45

If you are going to recommend i7, why hamstring him with a slow drive? A WD 640 Black isn't much more.

 

[jitpublisher]

For the money, I think the AMD system you have picked out is a nice, nice rig.
The i7 will be faster in some applications, like encoding for instance. For games and general home use though, the AMD package will provide very nearly the same performance, you would never notice the difference, except your wallet will be a left a little fatter by going AMD. In games the i7 really has no advantage.
Get a WD 640 gig black drive. Fast, nice drive.
As others stated, also make sure you buy a name brand PSU, I would suggest at least 550~650 watt range.
If you are a light to medium gamer, the 4850 is decent.
However, with the money you save by going with the AMD build, why not jump up a couple of notches and put a killer GPU in. A 4890, or even a nVidia 285 would sit right in there with the rest of your parts, and simply cruise through the newest games on the highest settings.
If you spend a lot of time encoding video, or music, then the i7 will speed things up.
But I don't think it is really worth the extra dough, you have to decide that.
To sum it up, you can start with the AMD platform, which costs less, spend a little more money on a few key parts like the Drive, GPU, and quality PSU, and end up with a great, great system for a relatively not huge investment.
Or, you can go i7, gain a little performance in some areas, and spend less on some of the key components to keep under budget. And overall end up with about the same performance.

 

[Helloworld_98]

@jsc

I put then green drive in because the 640gb caviar black is £15 more and the PSU is pushing it with an i7 system and a 4850.

 

[Gedoe_]

If you are going to recommend i7, why hamstring him with a slow drive? A WD 640 Black isn't much more.

somewhat faster driver isnt gonna matter in gaming preformance.

I7 with 4850/4870 is easily in reach. You could save on half ddr3 and maybe like case+psu. but works like hello_world suggested too.

 

[Helloworld_98]

I think the main bottleneck is having to buy the OS, I'm lucky since I have MSDN access which most people don't and the money spent on an OS is the difference between am3 and i7.